Jorge David Awe

Jorge David Awe grew up in San Ignacio, Belize. A small town of mixed African and Latino culture, it is located seventy five miles west of the coast.

In the 1970's, his neighbourhood was a hodgepodge of thatched, wooden, and cement houses that came in all shades, shapes and sizes — much like his neighbours.

As a youngster, during the rainy season, he'd willingly throw himself into the chocolate-coloured water raging along the public drain that ran in front of his grandmother's house. During the dry season, kicking around ripped plastic balls stuffed full of leaves and grass, he'd play football (soccer) with friends and neighbours till darkness fell, or whenever the mosquitoes would make being outside intolerable, whichever came first.

Part of the charm he 'lived' on a daily basis was the predictability of things. The garbage man would roll through the neighbourhood on his mule and cart on Monday mornings, while the local ice-cream vendor would pedal through with his wooden tub in a crate of ice sitting on the handlebar of his black Raleigh bicycle on Saturday afternoons. On Sundays, he had to shine his shoes, put on his nicest outfit, and trek up and down a couple of hills to get to church.

He shared his first glass of homemade blackberry wine with his grandmother at age seven. A couple of years later, that same grandmother passed him her corn pipe through a crack in the door of the outhouse so he could puff on it and pretend to be a world class sleuth.

It was around this time that he first became interested in the art of storytelling. His imagination was fuelled by Kung Fu movies in which characters could walk on water, sail over bamboo patches, and move their mouths in a way that contradicted what they were saying and the pace at which they were saying it; and by westerns where the hero could outduel ten men fanned out in front of him with a six-shooter!

Through his primary school and high school years, he made wonderful friends, many of whom he keeps in touch with to this day. He considers himself lucky to have grown up during the 80's listening to such masterful bands and singers as Culture Club, Air Supply, Styx, Dan Fogelberg, Sergio Mendes, and Christopher Cross.

In 1987, he moved to Canada to study at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. He spent his days navigating the hallways of Lady Eaton College, tending bar at The Commoner Pub, and even occasionally attending classes! There, while writing a paper in the school cafeteria on a Tuesday night, he met his future wife for the first time. He eventually graduated with a B.A. in Economics. Today, along with his wife and two daughters, he resides in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a tranquil suburb of Montreal.